“Not All Fevers are Malaria”

 Martins Ifijeh
The chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Fydor Biotechnologies, Dr. Eddy Agbo, has advised Nigerians to always go for diagnosis before treating malaria as all fevers are not due to malaria.

Agbo gave the advice during a market introduction of Fydor Urine Malaria Test (UMT), a new technology that helps in the diagnosis of malaria without a blood test.

He explained that there were different causes of fever, therefore there was need to know the cause of a symptom before treatment.

On the new innovation, he explained that “UMT is informed by the need to raise the standard of healthcare in Nigeria by making it faster, more accessible and efficient. With UMT healthcare providers and individuals can rule out if malaria is present in the body without using blood, reagents and equipment,” Agbo added.

He said, “the federal Ministry of Health partners closely with us in validating the urine malaria test in Nigeria because there is a gap in malaria control and there are some hard to reach areas where there are no easy access to blood test”

Agbo stated that the product (UMT) had to go through full scale process of product development and clinical trial in order to attain global standards and universal acceptance.

Meanwhile, the principal investigator and Director ANDI Centre of Excellence for Malaria Diagnosis, College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Prof. Wellington Oyibo, noted that “UMT is a technology with very high potential of expanding access to malaria testing”.

Wellington added that “When you treat malaria without testing, you will neglect the actual cause of the fever which may be dangerous and early diagnosis is very important for any medical condition,” he added.